Tea Party Collective Swap

I was foulding laundry yesterday when the doorbell rang.. It was the mailman. I haven't ordered anything lately and was not expecting a package. It was a A5 sized brown enevelope. With some very exotic stamps and a very neat handwriting.. and instantly I knew: it was my Tea Party Collective swap -package!! After almost 4 weeks it arrived!

In my quest to have more happy mail in my mailbox I applied for this swap when I saw an announcement while scrolling through Instagram. You can find more information  "here". It's basicly a one time only swap with Swetha; she came up with this wonderfull idea.
I made a small package for her back in March I think. it was so much fun putting together a small package filled with bits and pieces. If you want to see what I put together you can go "HERE"

After I was done with all of the laundry I sat down and oppened this lovely package.
Here is what I found:

Inside the brown envelope was this white transparent one. I could see a glimpse of the goodies and spotted some sparkly heart-shapes glitter... 

There was this ingenious little crafted box with a small booklet inside.. 

it contained some good vibes she was sending my way =)
and my name in Arabic!

Also in there: some lovely tea ( qurious to see the Yogi packaging is much cuter abroad), sweets and a cute little Singapore Doll-keychain.. 

 

There was a small collection of stickers; the owl is certainly my favorite. Also a collection of different bits of paper and vintage pictures. She also made a lovely bracelet with different types of knots. In just the right colors. And a small bundle of soft pink yarn. For which I already have some ideas what to make of it... 

There was also a small note in her very neat and lovely handwriting. I wish I had such neat handwriting! 

And a sample of her favorite shampoo and hairconditioner. I will enjoy trying that!

I had a lovely time unpacking this package and discovering all of the little treasures Swetha had put in there.

I am not quite shure yet what to do with it all. Part of me wants to just keep it all together in the envelope like a little treasure. But it deserves to be used. So I will do that.

So you see, the mailman can bring nice things. Not just bills ;-)

Easy zucchini soup

The weather has turned here.
We've had lovely weather for weeks on end.
But the weather has tuned and instead of summer it feels more like fall right now.
These dark, wet and dreary days make me crave soup. Especially for lunch.
But I'm not one to spend hours on end in the kitchen for lunch.

So I came up with this soup.
It's not really a recipe but more a set of guidelines.
Hence the not so specific measurements.
As my mom would say: "Handgelenk mal Pi"

Easy Zucchini soup
for 1 generous serving:

1 zucchini
a generous cup of stock (vegetable or chicken)
1 clove of garlic
a bit of cream or some soft cheese ( Boursin)
Olive oil

First up chop the garlic. Heat a small pan and add some olive oil. Fry the garlic until soft.
Chop the zucchini into small bits and add them to the garlic in the pan. Fry this for a bit maybe 3 minutes?
Add the stock and let it simmer until the zucchini is soft. 
Pour the soup into a blender or use a hand blender directly in the pan.
Be carefull!! 
When you have reached your desired consistency add some cream or soft cheese. Just one more whizz with the blender until the cream is properly mixed in. 
Pour into a bowl and enjoy.
Maybe serve with a bit of focaccia... 

Enjoy!

Around here // I'm Back!

 So I have been away from my blog for a while. For some reason I just couldn't get myself in gear and blog.
But I'm stille alive, don't worry! And I have been busy as well but just haven't gotten myself to share it with you. So here is a recap of what I have been up to lately.

Firstly, something I am really proud of: I have finished my very first crochet blanket! When a friend of mine announced she was pregnant, I instantly knew I wanted to try and make her a blanket. I didn't tell her anything about it. Just in case it would be rubbish. When it was finished I couldn't wait for the baby being born and gave it to her right away. She really loved it. And the colors where spot on! I am really proud of myself for finishing this. And have since...

started on a blanket for myself. It's the same stitch but totally different colors and bigger. It's not going as fast as the baby-size but it's nice to have something to do when I'm watching tv.

I found the pattern on the Attic24 blog. Its called "the granny stripe" and is really very easy. If you are thinking about crocheting a blanket I highly reccomend it.

We love taking trips. First of all we went on a small camping trip in May. We've never been this early in the season. And we did have some preperation-fails. First of all; we went in the coldest weekend in the whole month. So it was COLD!!! Think -2 degrees celsius at night. 

Secondly for some reason we forgot our gastank. Which meant we had to buy a new one; that is a very expensive fail. But overall we did have fun. I got to visit my favorite stamp store in Deventer and I discovered a small shop filled with postcards and notebooks. Awesome!

And with the woods right of the camping Abby got lots of walks and free running through the bushes.

Another trip was to the Zoo in Amersfoort. It's probably the only zoo in Holland where you can take your dog. We had lovely weather and it was really cool to see Abby interact with all of the different animals. She even got a kiss from a giraf. ** Sadly I wasn't quick enough with my camera to capture that..

We also had lots of fun at a family trip. My aunt goes to the Pasar Malam in The hague once a year. I went along a few times years ago before we had dogs. Even before I'd met Nico. But a friend of ours was kind enough to dog-sit so we got to go this year. It's a collection of tents filled with all kinds of exotic food, drinks, bits and pieces. My brothers, step-mom, sister-in-law and my nephew all went along also. We had a wonderfull day filled with real Indonesian food, I had chendol and bubble tea for the first time and we went home with a nice stack of "spekkoek"

Ever since my art-journaling workshop I have been really making an effort to draw more. And with the beautifull weather we have been having I'm spending a lot of time in the garden.. 

Thanks to Instagram I have found not 1 but 3 pen-pals. ** finding a pen-pal was on my 2014 intention-list. I really can not descibe the happiness of finding such beautifull things in your mailbox. I can reccomend it to everyone! Not ready for a ''commited realtionship" with a fellow-snailmailer? Try Postcrossing. I will do a post on snail-mailing soon.

I have been strugling with my body lately. I have gained a bit of weight over the past few years **if you are not carefull that's what living together does to you.. And it is starting to affect my health. So I have been trying to take better care of myself. Getting enough sleep and make better food-choices. Like taking a healthy snack with me to work. I am not on a diet because that never works for me. Just trying my best to make better choices. The added weigtht ( and poor food choices) also means my fybromyalgia and gout has been acting up lately. And pain always affects all other areas of your life. 

After 2 years it was, finally, time to upgrade my phone. So out with the old (HTC) and in with the new (samsung galaxy S4) Best part of the upgrade? The fact that there are so many cute covers available for my new phone!! Yes I know.. shallow.. but hey.. I'm a girl. I need cute stuff!

So that is what I have been up to lately.

I have every intention of keeping up with blogging but if I do get caught up with life you can still find me on Instagram!

Have a wonderfull evening and see you later!